UROP Project

Fish, Physiology and behavior, Climate Change
Research Mentor: Dr. Alyssa Andres, She
Department, College, Affiliation: Coastal and Marine Laboratory, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: ama23f@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: No
Number of Research Assistants: 6
Relevant Majors: Biological Sciences
Biology
Environmental Science
Exercise Physiology
Biochemistry
Project Location: FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory: 3618 Coastal Highway, St Teresa, FL 32358
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10,
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Friday, September 6th, 3:00-3:30 pm zoom link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/93579032316

Project Description

I am seeking highly-motivated students looking to expand their research in areas related to ecology and physiology. UROP students will assist with physiology-based projects investigating the impact of temperature and hypoxia on energetic demands and performance of the Atlantic stingray (Hypanus sabinus), spotted sea trout (Cynoscion nebulosus), hardhead catfish (Ariopsis felis), and bonnethead shark (Sphyrna tiburo). This project aims to identify the diversity of fish (bony fish, rays, sharks) responses to climate change and identify thermal and hypoxic sensitivity of species in order to better predict their ecology and behavior under climate change. We will measure energetic demands across animal activity, experimental temperature, and across declining environmental oxygen. We will also conduct critical thermal maximum trials to determine species upper thermal limit. In addition, we will investigate the abundance of heat shock proteins, vital in the protection of cell structures and function in the face of environmental stress, and blood stress physiology in relation to temperature change in each species.

Research Tasks: • Assisting with various fishing, animal collection, transport, and acclimation activities
• Assisting with tagging procedures and biometric data collection in the lab/field
• Assisting/running thermal, whole organism energetic (respirometry), and proteomic (heat shock protein) laboratory experiments
• Gear fabrication and equipment assembly
• Daily behavior monitoring and health assessment of captive animals
• Data collection, organization, and entry
• Data processing, QA/QC, analysis
• Daily husbandry activities (i.e., animal feeding, cleaning tanks)
• General laboratory, tank, water system (water chemistry, flow etc), and gear maintenance
• Background literature research/review
• Scientific Writing
• Participation in community and student scientific outreach

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required:
• Commitment to working flexible hours
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills
• Must be highly self-motivated, with the ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Experienced with basic Microsoft office platforms especially excel
• Must be able to lift 50lbs.
• Must be capable of independent transportation to the FSU coastal and marine laboratory on a regular basis.

Mentoring Philosophy

As a mentor my goal is to help students develop into confident, motivated, and capable researchers. I meet with mentees to identify their professional interests, what motivates them, ways they learn best, strengths and areas that can use more development. We will identify skills they want to build, how to best facilitate that through the practical field and lab research students take part in, and how all skills they gain through this research can be applied. I am clear in my expectations of students and together we can identify their expectations of me as their teacher and mentor, and develop a relationship founded on mutual respect. I value great communication and independent curiosity, promoting learning through inquiry. I create an interactive environment for learning, offering many opportunities for observation, discussion, and skill development (guided skills labs, assisting in experimentation). I aim to foster a safe environment in which mentees and all team members feel that it is acceptable to fail and learn from their mistakes; where honesty and free exchange of feedback can occur. I strive to develop students’ intrinsic motivation for research, the confidence to take initiative, as well as ownership of and responsibility for their research duties. As a mentor I work to model positive feedback, provide constructive comments for improvement, encourage growth through challenges and troubleshooting, and often share my own experience with my students. Under my mentorship students will grow both as independent researchers and research team members.

Additional Information


Link to Publications

https://marinelab.fsu.edu/people/faculty/andres/
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